Yesterday evening was absolutely beautiful. Clear, warm, just a little bit of a breeze.

And I had combustibles to burn. There's this large crate that some art came in, a long time ago, that's been living in the dining room because it needed to be broken down, etc. etc. So, yesteday afternoon, gymgeek bought a circular saw (mmm. Power Tools) and ripped the thing into managable pieces (it was 4 ft by 8 ft by 8 inches!) and we headed to Alki to burn things. rubricity and some other friends met us there, and we claimed a fire pit.

The fire pit we found was a brand new one, untouched by human-made fire, pretty and new.

It doesn't look that way anymore. We're guessing that maybe the concrete wasn't totally cured. The first little chunk just kind of fell off the top. okay, a little concrete in a fire doesn't hurt it. The second, bigger chunk blew off a side, and sprayed concrete sharpnel (not very big, but warm!) about 5 feet (including trying, unsuccessfully to melt rubicity's chair). It seemed to be done, so we finally roasted brats and made s'mores.

Later, Ivana was poking the fire when a large portion of the bottom of the pit decided it needed to rearrange itself. Like slow motion, it lifted up, about 6 inches, re-arranged the fire, and moved pieces of concrete that had been under the fire to a different place in the fire pit. It was really, really cool.

I know, why didn't we just leave? We figured each concrete failure was the last. The other fire pit didn't seem to be having the same problems (actually, I think they were jealous!) And it was fun. Explosion! Ka-Boom!

Fire, fun, and friends on a gorgeous night. It doesn't get much better.